


A few strange stories.

by BigDadEnergy



Category: Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Bard - Freeform, F/F, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Disaster, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:02:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigDadEnergy/pseuds/BigDadEnergy
Summary: What was originally supposed to be a story for each day of Mermay became two stories with a common theme of Mermaids. Things happen, especially this year, but I still want my stories to be up for others to hopefully enjoy so I am doing a bit editing then here we go.
Kudos: 3





	1. Celebration

##  Celebration

Fire burned in the town, men and women laughing and singing to one another as they danced and spilled rum on themselves. Sea shanties and drinking songs, sailors laments and songs of great battles all around with not a care present in any group. All around were children sprinting through the dirt streets playing tag, warrior, pirates, and soldier with one another as even they shared in the revelry. Men of every age, every walk of life, every creed sang and drank together. Women of every size, every race, every profession danced around and found themselves picking and choosing from the men and women alike. Everybody was happy, everybody but one Elissandra Mortuem as she gazed longingly out to the sea. Something about the calm ocean waves away from the chaos of the party called her more than dance or jig, more than song and sonnet, more than any of them ever could. She made sure her friends were good and soaked in rum before she slipped away to let them lose themselves over one another, her footsteps soft as they left small trails in the sand to betray her direction. The ocean. It called, and its call only got stronger until finally she thought that she heard more singing. She was curious, too far from the celebration to hear but ambient noises and cheers, an excitement building in her chest as she moved from a saunter to a sprint, making her way to the ocean shore and around the rocks of the cove until she was along by the sea. Alone, save a solitary figure sitting on the rocks some distance into the water. Their voice nearly made her heart leap from her chest, moving closer to the surf before her ankles were awash in the cold, further still until her knees were salt soaked, further still until her dress floated around her and she moved even further still. When the cloth ceased to float, it sank, Elissandra realizing now that her father had never taught her to swim. She called out in fear, flailing her arms around and calling for some help from the figure on the rocks. Her head dipped below the water, salt searing her lungs as she drank from the ocean, eyes coming above the water to see the figure had fled and her heart sank the same as her dress. As the flailing arms failed her, she felt herself dragged beneath the current as the air left her body and her sight slowly faded to darkness, her life over far too soon, visions of a beautiful woman moving closer to her.  _ This was it _ , she closed her eyes and accepted death, welcoming her guide to the afterlife with open arms and her mind went silent as the darkness enveloped her.

Lungs still aching, eyes burning, hair against the sand as she looked up and saw the moon above her. Death was strange, she still felt pain, still felt alive. Then the moon was blocked by a shadow hovering above her, lips pressed against hers and her chest tightened when she shadow kissed her, pulling away for Elissandra to choke and cough up the remainder of the water in her lungs. She sat up, holding her breast as she heaved and wretched, panting and gasping for breath as she looked around her.  _ What the hell? _ She wasn’t dead at all, just sitting on the same beach as she had been before seeing the creature on the rocks, the creature! Her gaze shifted to the right, and there upon the sand beside her she saw the same figure from the water, what she thought had been her guide into death.

“Who the hell are you, why aren’t I dead?” Elissandra called out, nearly shouting at the creature. The woman, she saw now that what she thought was a creature was just a woman sitting beside her, seaweed covering her body as she flinched at Elissandra’s wailing.

“Please, I am sorry. I did not mean for my singing to endanger you, I thought the party in your home would drown out my voice.” The woman spoke softly, her voice high with worry as she held a hand out to beg forgiveness from Elissandra.

“Your singing?! Your singing.  _ Your _ singing?” Elissandra was confused, having come from a long line of musicians she was aware of the power of music, but this was something even her grandfather would have been amazed to witness. 

“Yes, my singing. I was sitting on the rock. It is my favorite place to sing, but I must be careful not to sing too loud or else I might hurt the people of the town. Nights where your people party like this are the only times when I can sing as loud as I want. At least, I thought I did.” The woman rubbed the back of her neck, Elissandra’s eyes moving to the flaps of skin on her neck, almost like gills. Come to think of it, her fingers were webbed as well, and she was fully uncovered save the seaweed around her chest and her waist.

“Your neck, your hands. Wait a moment.” Elissandra moved a bit closer now. The woman was panicked, backing up as Elissandra moved closer but she was clumsy in the sand, the Mortuem quickly pinning her back to the sand as she observed what skin she could. It was thick, like that of a shark. The beautiful hair was more the feeling of whiskers on her hands. The webbed fingers made from skin, not some bard’s parlor tricks. “My grandfather told me about your kind, a mermaid yes? Your singing can bring sailors to throw themselves and their ships upon the rocks at your feet. Ah, fins. You are just as beautiful as the stories say.” Elissandra began to lose herself as she leaned closer, captivated by the beauty of the woman beneath her, when she realized that she had pinned this stranger to the beach. She threw herself back, face flush with embarrassment as she backed up to a comfortable distance, holding her face in her hands in hopes to hide from what she had just been doing to that poor girl.

“Please, do not apologize. My mother tells me all about your people, I am fascinated by humans but I cannot go into your town to experience your lives for myself. Please, my name is Marianne. It is nice to meet you, again I am sorry about nearly killing you.” The girl smiled, Elissandra’s heart feeling as if it had just been run through by a spear as she fell in love with that smile.

“Hi, uh, I would have been cool if you had killed me. No, shit, sorry. I practiced this, come on. Elissandra. Me, my name. I am Elissandra, Hi. Sorry, you have a really pretty name. The rest of you too, no, shit again. You are beautiful, is what I meant. Thank you for not letting me die, I mean, for saving me. This isn’t going well, for me, sorry I just-” She fumbled with her words, wanting to throw herself into the ocean with each syllable that left her lips as she stared at Marianne. The mermaid, however, found it endearing. She moved closer and pressed a finger to Elissandra’s lips to keep her from exploding in embarrassment.

“Elissandra is a very beautiful name. I think I know exactly how you can repay me by saving you from drowning.” Marianne giggled and smiled at the babbling girl in front of her, taking Elissandra’s hand and putting it against her chest while she did the same with her hand on Elissandra’s chest. Elissandra nearly lost herself at her hand being pressed to the center of Marianne’s chest, her breath fluttering into a coo as she stared ahead at the beauty of the ocean in front of her.

“Yeah, no totally fuck yeah. Whatever, anything, yeah, no wait shit-” She started again before she was shushed by Marianne.

“Teach me one of your songs. I hear your people sing during the celebrations you have. Let’s celebrate you not dying, and you can teach me so we can celebrate together. Please?” She asked, her eyes wide and boring into Elissandra’s soul as every piece of her soul wanted nothing more than to teach Marianne everything she knew to make sure they spent as much time as they could together.

“Yes, of course I would love you. Love to! LOVE TO, I MEANT LOVE TO I SWEAR!”

“Hush, please. It hurts when you scream so loud."

“Shit, fuck, sorry. Uh, a song, yeah I can do that. Most of the songs my grandfather wrote are sung by the sailors from our port. I can totally do that. Yeah, any requests? No, you don’t know any of the songs that is why you are asking. Songs, songs, songs, I got it! Jolly Sailor Bold, my great grandmother wrote that one when her husband started sailing for the crown. Okay, sorry rambling. Ready, okay, I got this. Our own little celebration.” Elissandra smiled as she took a deep breath, her worries washing away with the melody in her head like those same currents that nearly took her away. Then, as she found herself at peace with the world around her, her lips moved and her voice sang out around Marianne--a beauty befitting a daughter in the family known as the “Voice of Ihdos”.


	2. Warrior

Somewhere deep within the oceans between Wulume and Bolphend a tribe of mer lived, the Children of the Twin Sharks, their home a center of culture beneath the sea where tribes from all the oceans would come to share in trade, music, and art. These Children of the Twin Sharks thrived from their central position, and shared great relations with the other large tribes; the Children of the Eight Arms and the Children of the Ten Legs. But when the tribes warred against each other, the Children of the Twin Sharks were forced to trade their artisan's tools for tridents, their strings for spears, all in the defense of their home. When faced with this adversity, they answered with a ferocity known only to the Children of the Twin Sharks. The Children of the Eight Arms had strategy, and the Children of the Ten Legs had unbreakable skin, but few could withstand the unbridled force of the Twin Sharks. Brought now to the first battle of the war, the Battle of the Twin Sharks as it would be known. While legions of mer gathered on either side of the city limits, the Twin Sharks stood back to back with their weapons at the ready and the charge came from both directions at the call of the war horns. Imdarr beside them they cried for blood as the ocean turned a deep red, men and women who would some few weeks ago call each other friends tore themselves to pieces. All throughout the city, the war raged, no end in sight as the Twin Sharks held off either army, none giving way to any other but all losing millions of lives over the course of the days turned months turned years.

After nearly a decade of fighting, one man and his companions came to the highest peak of the Twin Sharks home, a voice radiant and blessed by Koros called out for the fighting to end. Weapons sank to the ocean floor as there stood Cyraeneus of the Ten Legs tribe-- strongest defense in the sea, with the shell of the Ancestor Crab in his hands--calling out to all the Mer that they should seek unity, not domination, for none could tell why they fought, only that they must. Beside him stood Sanctus of the Twin Sharks tribe--unmatched strength in any tribe, the teeth of the Ancestor Sharks adorning his fists--who called for his brothers to remember their lives as merchants and artists, and forsake the bloody path they have taken the past decade. Last, to the other side of Cyraeneus stood Styx of the Eight Legs tribe--unmatched in skill with any weapon, whips made from the arms of the Ancestor Octopus in either hand--she ordered the men and women from the three tribes to cease their fighting or be struck down by Koros himself, as they gods did not wish for the fighting to continue any longer. Legends of the Ancestors were told around each of the Tribes, as well as stories of the strength required to defeat those beasts. In awe at the majesty of these three, the armies bowed their heads to the ocean floor and began to beg forgiveness from The Trio. Long was the time before people of the different tribes could smile at one another, but led by these warriors, mer society returned to its peaceful past.


End file.
